Cleaning appliance



e. L. BARTLETT.

' CLEANING APPLIANCE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 1', I917.

Patented Au 31, 1920.

III

Ewen/0r Geo/i6 L. Bar/49% flffomey UNITED mm arser ossi g GEORGE LEON BARTLETT, o BosToN, MASSACHUSETTS.

I f CLEANING APPLIANCE.

1 Application. filed June 1,

To all whom it may concern: I

Beit known that I, GEORGE LEON BART- LETT, a citizen of theUnit'ed States, residing at -Boston,-in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cleaning Appliances, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates "to "a j device for cleaning automobiles and other articles, and especially those the surfaces" of which ref quire care in washing them; and has for one of its objects the provision ofwashing or wiping means which shall be automatically self cleaning, preferably when in use, and which shall, further, be capable'of' substantially conforming "itself to-the surfaceor surfaces to which 'it is applied.

Another object of the invention is to so constitute the device with 'ay'plurality of these self-cleaning "surfaces, that when one of these latter is in use or directly .incontact with the article ,tobe 'cleaned,another of said surfaces'is being'flushed with cleansing fluid.

Still another object is to so combine the elements of the device that the cleansing fluid supplied thereto not only aids in cleaning the article being washed, together and at the same time serving to remove grit "and dirt from the wiping surfaceor surfaces; but, further,-saidfluid itself acts to expand the appliance and to render the wiping surfaces thereof resilient and adaptive to the contour of the surface to be cleansed.

These' and other obj ects' of my invention will be hereinafter referred to and the novel combinations of means and elements wherebysaid obj ects may be attained will be more particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto. I

In the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof and in which like reference characters designate like parts'throughout the several views, I have exemplified a preferred form of my said device; but as I am aware of various changes and modifications which may be'ma'de-he ein without departing from the spirit of the invention, I

desire to be limited only by the scope of said claims. I

Referring to the'draw'ing: I Figure 1 is a side elevation of a washing iripliance for cleaning automobiles and the responding dimensions of the frame 1, for

Specification of Letters Patent. P te t Aug. 1 9 0 1917. Serial No. 172,303.

v Fig. is avertical longitudinalsection of said device,- taken on the line II.II' of Fig.1. f Fig; 3 is a transverse section taken on line IIIIIIofFig.1." T"

The device given by way of eXemplification preferably comprises a frame 1 of galvanized iron wire or other preferably, al-' though not necessarily, rigid material, which f is bent into the form of "a substantially closed loop. The wire'may be of rbout'No. ll gage andvit is quite important that itflbe non-rusting in character to prevent 'rust passing thence throughv the sides of the bag 2, to the surface being cleansed. V

The lower ends 1' of the frame may conveniently be bent over andsoldered fast to the inner side of a threaded socket or. coupling3, of brass or the like; thislatter preferably being a standard hose coupling. Also soldered fast to said coupling and to said ends, is the base 4". ofastud or nozzle a, through which the water or other cleansing fluid passes intothe from a'flxible hose 5,-the coupling end 5" of which may be screwed in the .usual fashion into the socket 3. c

I prefer to provide a leather washer6 in the coupling to' form a watertight "connection andto tightly bind themouth of. the bag 2-to the neck of the looped frame and stud 4:, by a wrapping of wire 7.

The bag 2, of flexible sheetmaterial, is preferably formed of two pieces of tanned sheep-skin or hide from whichthewoolhas not been clipped, or in other words, natural wool-bearing hide; these pieces beingsomewhat longer and wider over all than the core reasons hereinafterset forth.

The edges of the bag sections are seamed or-stitch ed with tough thread 8 after'the frame has been inserted between said sec tions; the latter having first been washed or treated on their inner sides with hot paraffin 100 Oil in which is a considerable proportion of paraffin wax or the like. This treatment is desirable for a number of reasons. In the first place the hide when long subjected'to water, without such treatment or the equiva-"105 I lent thereof, is apt toirot. Furthermore, the oil and wax makes said hide morefiexible, toughens it and makes it imperviousto the; washing fluid. Being applied hot, 'it impregnates 'thehide, while, ofcourse, it is al- 110 lowed to cool before the sides of the bag are assembled in the manner above described.

An additional advantage of this waxing treatment is that the threads of the seam 8 are themselves automatically waxed when the sides of the bag are being sewed tosmall'in size and preferably few in num gether; so that the thread'is toughened and preserved from deterioration from the moisture; While an excellent, practically tight joint is effected. v i In the sides of the-bag" are formed small perforations or apertures such as the holes v9 or slits 10, through which the water or other suitable washingfluid escapes from the interior of the bag into. the felt-like mass of 3 long wool, filamentswhich forms the outer sides thereof. Thesev holes, however, are

high head,while, furthern1ore the hose should beone whi'chcan conveniently be handled,the provisionof but few holes or slits of but small size, permits the device to act in the desiredmanner. V

vThe distention of the bag or pocket 2 draws the seam 8 in, substantially all around, toward and, preferably, into. contact with, the frame; reference having been made to the initial spacing of the seam from the frame in theforegoing. v 4

The sides of thebag, hence, being bulged out or fluid-cushioned with water. under moderate pressure, become, in effect, resilicurved or flat surfaces to which they may be applied. I Thus, in washing the spokes of a vehicle, this feature becomesv of great value, both: in that it saves the time of the operatorfand, tends to insure a more perfect cleaning 1 V V Sinceno'metal, or even hard part, whatsoever, is presented to the surface to be cleaned, whenv the coupling 3, preferably spaced as it is from the hides, is grasped as axhandle the surface, no. matter how highly; polished, cannot well be scratched. Then, too, even grit or dirt which may be present on such surface is not apt to, collect in the: wool as it does in the pores of a vsponge, on account of the constant movement of water out through the wool, substantially following the filaments thereof.

.The fact that the appliance presents a plurality oflwashingfacesisalso of advantage, not only because-thelife of thedevice is. thereby lengthened but also because while one face is being wiped, over thepart to be cleaned and is being supplied with water on that side, the opposite side is being washed free from dirt or grit which may have collected upon it"; and yet, owing to the nature of the outer surface of the bag, the water thus acting cannot spout freely out,to wet the clothes of the op erator or even his hand or arm,'but rather it also, obviously, permits one side ofthe bag to be. pushed. directlythereinto to permit the device to accommodategit self to a highly convex surface tobecleansed. A bag, of sheep-skin, such as thatdescribed, is most, admirably adapted to the purposes in question, and is furthermore comparatively inexpensive, "tremendously durable, most easily cleaned, especially when dipped into a bucket of water while at the same timeit is flushed from within outwardly, as usual; and it. presents a soft, yielding and, in effect, resilient surface which is incomparable for cleaning finely finished varnishedsurfaces, or thQ'llkG. Indeed, one ,of the most desirable features of this cushioned surface is that it maybe varia ably pressed into its frame and yet the pressure to be exerted against thevariably c011.-

toured surface to beicleaneol, is always subcushioned sheep skin face has been effected. ent and are highly adapted to con-form to Having thus described my invention,,

what I claim is: Y V

A cleaning appliancegcomprising in combination 'a fra'me,a bag offlexible sheet material secured to and receiving said frame, means to-introduce'a cleaning fluid into said bag; said sheet material -when said bag is filled with said fluid, presenting a filamentary fluid-cushioned surface to the article to be cleaned and being perforate to permit of a flow of the fluid out from said baginto and through the mass of filaments composing said surface, said-filaments being substantially incapable of opposing flexure thereof and being so closetogether that said surface; isjfelt-like and permits said fluid merely to seep therethrough.

'2. A cleaning appliance comprisingin combination a substantially :flat frame, 1 a bag of flexible sheet material secured to and receiving said frame, means ,to introduce a cleaning fluid into said bag, said sheet'material when said bag is filled with said fluid, presenting a' filamentary fluid-cushioned surface to the article to be cleaned and being perforate to permit of a flow of the latter out from said bag into and'through the mass of filaments composing said surface, said bagrbeing larger in 1ts overall dlmensions than the corresponding parts of the frame therein to permit of its sides being bulged out by the pressure of said fluid, the

bag being drawn in toward and pressing against the periphery of said flat frameat such time. i s

A cleaning appliance comprising a twopiece bag, each piece of said-bag constituting a side thereof and being of natural wool bearing sheep skin, the 'woolbearing sides of said pieces being turned out 7 to form cleaning surfaces and the edges of said pieces being secured together soa's to leave the entire outer cleaning" surface of the bag free from any substance which might mar the article to be cleaned," means to introduce a cleaning fluid into said bag to distendthe sides thereof, said sides having perforations therein to, permit said fluid to escape'fromthe interior of theybag out into the'wool upon itsouter s1 1rface, ano l a frame within said bag to support said se i I manner aforesaid.

In testimony whereof I Ihave Vaflixed my s gnature, lnthe presence of two wltnesses. t

cured edges when the sides are 'distendedin- 

